What is to be done?
Friday, 12 July 2013
0
comments
“The economy grows at night when
the government is asleep.”
Ironically, in India’s case, the
government’s state of somnolence in the last decade has not facilitated
significant economic growth and development. It has instead led to an economic
slowdown and exacerbated the state of inflation and unemployment. The
government has not only failed to provide a sound and progressive governance,
it has bettered its own record of lawlessness and poor governance. The exposure
of scams and scandals one after the other has only led to massive economic loss
and brought great disrepute to the nation. Unimaginative amounts of taxpayer’s
money has been siphoned off and embezzled down the drain that finds its way to
the coffers of unscrupulous politicians and the government has been unabashedly
trying to defend its ministers off the alleged charges of money laundering. The
menace of corruption has reached alarming proportions, the Indian rupee is
depreciating against the foreign currency and the unaccountable government
shamelessly takes pride in calling this as “Bharat
nirmaan”. All this has resulted in widespread resentment among the masses
and a miasma of fear and suffocation has gripped the entire nation – the fear
of failing in our commitments to make India a developed nation, the fear of
failing in alleviating poverty and hunger, the fear of failing in curbing the
menace of corruption and the consequently the fear of failing to secure a
brighter future for tomorrow. It seems we have become oblivious to the tryst we
made with destiny on the eve of independence. It seems we have become
complacent post the emphatic success of 1991 economic reforms. It seems we have
not succeeded in bridging the divide between demand and supply, the dive
between the haves and the have-nots, the divide between surplus and deficit.
What was once perceived as the engine of growth in the 21st century
has already started showing signs of breakdown.
In such a grim scenario, we need
to rethink our ideologies and revamp our policies to subdue the lurking
negative sentiments and tread a path for better economic growth and
development. There is an urgent need to reform the ley institutions of
governance – the bureaucracy, the judiciary and the executive. This calls for
an equitable distribution and decentralisation of power among all the states
and to incentivize them to direct the same down the hierarchy for more vigorous
local self-government. We need an emboldened and an assertive government that
can energetically push the agenda for the second generation of economic reforms.
It is high time the corrupt and the inefficient were brought to book who have
been betraying the trust bestowed on them by the citizens of India and who have
been shamelessly maligning the political arena with their unethical, illegal
and corrupt practices. The need of the hour is to bring an end to the dynastic
politics that has meticulously ensured perpetuation of power from the hands of
one generation of corrupt leader to other. The Indian youth must think prudently
before exercising their right to vote so that we do not end up electing a
government that is busy in establishing its idea of India being a beehive and
power being poison, a government that is bent upon disproving the secular
credentials of its rivals, a government that only aims at appeasing minorities
to secure its vote bank, a government that succumbs to the demands of its
allies every now and then to continue to remain in power. It is high time our
identity as Indians sis restored.
0 comments:
Post a Comment